Resurface head and replace valve seals etc at time of headgasket replacement or not?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by cdherman, Mar 31, 2026 at 11:40 AM.

  1. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    Did you find any signs of a leak in the head gasket? There should've been a rupture between coolant pathway to cylinder on either side of the gasket. If you can't find that. You can find the EGHE hoses. Plug one end and do a pressure or vacuum test on the other end to see if it holds pressure or vacuum. Keep the pressure low so you don't stress the seams of the heat exchanger. That would give you a definitive answer. Do the same for the EGR coolant tubes too.

    Good Luck...
     
    #21 BiomedO1, Apr 2, 2026 at 10:16 AM
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2026 at 3:41 PM
  2. cdherman

    cdherman Junior Member

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    well, I finished the tear down.

    Points to ponder:
    -- there was some coolant in cyllinder 1 and 4, but not much. However, I had rotated the engine to TDC, which puts 1 and 4 at the top and thus any more coolant might have been forced out, at least of cylinder 1, which is compression cycle, right? The other is exhaust cycle, so a valve would have been open...... Coolant might have just drained into the cylinder from residual coolant in the head somewhere that leaked into the cylinder when I cracked the head loose.

    -- My heads look a lot different than all the videos. All 4 piston tops are pretty clean, and the heads are nice looking too. Engine was not burning oil, had no issues. EGR cooler was not plugged.

    -- I pulled one exhaust valve. It looked quite nice. I learned that I am not steady enough and my mits are too large to put valve keepers back together. To do 16 of them would drive me hysterical bonkers. I called the local head shop -- they are busy and would take 14 days to do my own heads. I am not interested in swapping to some other head, as my heads are near perfect. The owner of the shop was saying that in his experience, valve seals are not much of problem with Prius these days.

    -- I did not see a clear point of leakage in my HG. But I did not run the engine much at all after the event.

    I am contemplating just putting it back together with the Felpro HG and all the new seals from Toyota and see how it goes.....
     
  3. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    LoL; "a local head shop" means something totally different out here in "wacky tobacco land". LoL

    Axle grease will hold those keepers in place, so you can release that spring.

    Good Luck.....